Villeneuve is a family name that will forever be attached to Formula 1 for its racing heritage. While Gilles Villeneuve, the former Ferrari racer, has the entire circuit (where the Canadian GP is held) named after him, his son was an excellent racer too. Now, Jacques Villeneuve has given an exclusive interview where he gushed about the recently-crowned three-time World Champion Max Verstappen for his dominance in the pinnacle of motorsports.

Jacques Villeneuve, winner of the 1997 World Championship, spoke about Max Verstappen and how his father Jos has trained the current Champion to be unbeatable. He said [as reported by Gazzetta.it], “Verstappen is unbeatable. His strength? He was never a kid, he was mature even when he was little. He was created to be a champion, his father was very hard on him.” Villeneuve has known Jos Verstappen since they both raced in Formula 1 together. It is safe to assume that the former World Champion is aware of Jos’ tough parenting and he supports it too.

“The truth is that today Verstappen does not have a single weak aspect”, added Villeneuve to further cement his claims of how good Max Verstappen actually is. It does come off as a touching thing to hear Jacques Villeneuve talk about fatherhood. This is because Jacques’s father Gilles Villeneuve had a tragic accident at the 1982 Canadian Grand Prix where the iconic racer was fatally injured. Jacques’s story of triumph still rings to be one of the best ones told in the sport of Formula 1.

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Jacques Villeneuve’s family name is going to be forever etched in the annals of Formula 1

Gilles Villeneuve started as a young Canadian with a burning passion for racing. He raced snowmobiles in his younger days, and eventually made his way to one of the most prestigious seats in Formula 1 history–a seat at Enzo Ferrari’s team. Gilles Villeneuve also raced for McLaren and amassed 6 Grand Prix victories in just 6 years in the Championship. The racer became the first Canadian driver to win a Grand Prix (and he did it on his home soil at the 1978 Canadian GP).

Gilles Villeneuve was often named one of the fastest racers of his time. Gilles unfortunately lost his life to a freak accident at the fateful 1982 Canadian Grand Prix–the same track where he claimed his maiden win. His son Jacques Villeneuve, who would later go on to be a successful F1 racer himself, was only 11 years old then at the time of his father’s death.

Jacques Villeneuve made his F1 debut in 1996 and was already in contention to win a World Championship in his brilliant second season with Williams. In 1997, the young Canadian was locked in a title fight against arguably the best pairing in F1 history–Michael Schumacher and his Ferrari. The 1997 World Championship fight is an epic story in itself. In the end, the title fight dragged on to the very last race of the season where Villeneuve and Schumacher were only split by a single point.

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